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Trump said his administration carried out strikes against a “drug-carrying submarine” that was navigating towards the United States in the Caribbean.
White House released visuals of the strikes that targeted a “drug-carrying submarine” in the Caribbean.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) said his administration carried out strikes against a “drug-carrying submarine” that was navigating towards the United States on a well-known narco-trafficking transit route, killing two people on board. He said intelligence reports confirmed that the vessel was carrying fentanyl and other illegal narcotics.
“It was my great honour to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, adding that two survivors are being repatriated to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.
“At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore. The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution. No US Forces were harmed in this strike. Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea,” he added.
Both men have arrived home, according to authorities from the two South American countries. The Ecuadorian survivor arrived back in his country at around 11 am (local time) and will later be legally processed, a government source who was not authorised to speak told Reuters.
“We have received the Colombian detained on the narco submarine, we are happy he is alive and he will be processed according to the law,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X on Saturday afternoon, providing no further information.
27 Drug Smugglers Killed So Far
The strike was the latest in Trump’s aggressive policy of choking the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States. At least six vessels, most of them speedboats, have been targeted by US strikes in the Caribbean since September, with Venezuela alleged to be the origin of some of them.
The United States has said that it has killed 27 drug smugglers so far, without providing evidence. On Tuesday, the US struck a small boat that Trump accused of carrying drugs in waters off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people. Experts say such summary killings are illegal even if they target confirmed narcotics traffickers.
The Trump administration has asserted that killing suspected drug smugglers — rather than having the Coast Guard interdict boats and arrest people aboard them if suspicions of drug smuggling proved accurate — is consistent with the laws of war, according to The New York Times.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly defended the strikes, calling them necessary to protect US lives. “A drug cartel is no different than al Qaeda, and they will be treated as such,” he said. Trump has also referred to the targets as “narcoterrorists,” claiming one of the boats carried members of the foreign terrorist organisation he designated as the Tren de Aragua.
Petro on Saturday accused Washington of killing a fisherman in one of its strikes and violating his country’s sovereignty. “US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in our territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug traffickers and his daily activity was fishing,” he said.
(with inputs from agencies)
Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international…Read More
Aveek Banerjee is a Senior Sub Editor at News18. Based in Noida with a Master’s in Global Studies, Aveek has more than three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specialising in international… Read More
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
October 19, 2025, 08:02 IST
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